A Father Always Cares
by GoldGuardian2418
Summary: When Jay puts himself in danger and nearly gets hurt, he acts like it's not a big deal, but soon learns that to Optimus, his adoptive father, it is. Done as a request for EmeraldMoonGreen. :)


**EmeraldMoonGreen, who owns Jay, asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy! :)**

 **Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro. I own nothing.**

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 **A Father Always Cares**

Jay managed to shimmy up to the support beams that hung just a little over the 'Bots' heads and he giggled to himself as they didn't see him right away until they heard him laugh and looked up.

The looks on their faces were priceless. "Jay, be careful!" Soundwave said in caution.

"I will be," the boy promised as the Bots and former 'Cons tried to recover from the spark attacks at seeing the young boy so high up. Jay began fooling around a bit, making it into a game to see if he could walk the beam like a tightrope.

Except he suddenly slipped and began falling. "Whoa!" He cried out, making them all look up and again they had spark attacks at seeing him falling. "Jay!" Red Alert cried out in horror.

Predaking, who came in at that very moment, moved his hands forward and up, catching the boy quickly and safely. "Jay, are you alright?" He asked worriedly.

The teenager sat up, took a deep breath, and nodded. "I'm fine, guys," he said.

"Jay, you could have broken several bones or worse," Megatron said, his tone firm, but even.

"It's no big deal, guys," Jay said. "It wasn't anything serious."

"Jay, it was serious," Arcee said. "What would we have done if you had been too injured for Ratchet to do anything?"

"Relax, guys, it turned out fine," the boy said. "It's nothing to overreact about."

The others didn't say anything after that and decided that the near-fall was enough for Jay to never try that stunt again. While it was, the boy didn't figure that Optimus would find out about it, but the leader of the Autobots did and one morning, when Jay came by his office, Optimus decided to speak with him. "You were playing on the support beams near the ceiling," he said, his voice firm, but even for now.

The boy shrugged. "Yeah," he said.

"And you slipped and fell."

"Dad, it's okay. It wasn't a big deal."

"Not a big deal?!" Optimus said, his voice rising.

Jay looked up at his father in surprise. He had never heard him raise his voice at him like that. "Jason, how can you put yourself purposely in danger like that?!" Optimus asked, his voice now at a yell.

The combination of the Autobot's yelling and the use of his full first name sent Jay into a panic and he looked up at his father, tears filling his eyes and when Optimus looked at him, his look stern, that was it. The boy fled from his office, running as if his life depended on it.

Seeing this, Optimus' eyes widened as he took a moment to wonder why his son ran out so suddenly and with such a fearful look until it came to him. Jay almost never associated his full first name with anything good and then Optimus had yelled at him. Sighing, he realized he made a big mistake, no doubt almost putting his son in a flashback, something he had sworn he would never intentionally do.

He got up, intending to find Jay and comfort him.

In the meantime, Jay had run down the halls, looking for a place to hide and when he saw Sideswipe and Sunstreaker about to enter their room, he latched onto the yellow Twin, who was surprised, but when they both saw the young boy's fearful face, they went inside their room, letting the boy come in without question.

The Twins sat on the berth while Sunstreaker, showing a side of himself that very few people saw, lifted Jay up into his hands and brought the boy up to his spark, feeling the teenager start to shake from his fright. "Shh, we're here, little brother," he said softly.

"You're safe here, Jay," Sideswipe said, also speaking softly. "Can you tell us what happened?"

Jay looked up at them, tears still in his eyes. "Dad…used my full first name," he managed to say before whimpering. "And…he…he…yelled at me."

"Why did he do that?" Sunstreaker asked.

"He…He found out…about…earlier."

Now seeing that Optimus had no doubt let his parental side take over and grew a little upset at Jay putting himself in danger, the two saw that in doing so, their leader had made the boy panic, though certainly not intentionally. "Sides, watch the door?" The yellow Twin asked him.

Nodding, the red Twin went to the door and stood watch while Sunstreaker continued comforting Jay, gently rocking him and holding him up to his spark to try and get him to stop shaking and to soothe him.

Optimus was searching the base for the boy, worried now that Jay might go into a full panic attack and he felt horrible for it. While he had been upset and concerned, he knew he shouldn't have raised his voice like that, but how unconcerned the boy had seemed that he had been in danger made him upset and think Jay didn't understand just how dangerous his stunt had been, but now, he sensed the boy had acted that way for another reason. And he was going to find out as soon as he found his son.

He came to the Twins' room and knocked gently on the door. Sideswipe opened it up a crack before blocking the crack with his body as he looked up at his leader. "Optimus, sir, what can I do for you?" He asked.

"Sideswipe, is Jay in there with you and your brother?" Optimus asked.

The red Twin looked rather reluctant before answering. "Yeah, he's in here with us," he said.

Sensing the other's hesitation, Optimus realized that Jay must have been on the brink of a panic attack when the Twins intervened. "May I come in, Sideswipe?" He asked gently.

The red Autobot looked unsure. "Sir, with all due respect, I don't know if that's a good idea," he said. "We just got Jay to calm down and…well…we don't want to undo all that and have him go into a panic attack."

Optimus nodded. "I realize that, Sideswipe. However, I need to make amends with my son," he said, keeping his voice level and gentle. "I feel horrible that I nearly caused Jay to go into a panic attack when I promised him I'd never intentionally do that."

"You wouldn't do that intentionally, sir, no," Sideswipe agreed. "But…I guess sometimes being a parent, you might mean well at something, but the recipient…doesn't take it so well."

The red and blue Autobot nodded. "Sideswipe, please let me in," he requested softly.

Seeing that his leader really wanted to make it right with his son, the red Twin nodded and opened the door, letting Optimus in, who spotted Sunstreaker sitting on the berth and holding a sleeping Jay up to his spark, rubbing his back to soothe him. He glanced up at the taller Bot. "He was pretty shook up when he came running to us," he said quietly.

"How is he now?" Optimus asked softly.

"Feeling a bit better," the yellow Twin said. "But he's still a bit upset over you yelling at him."

Though Sunstreaker said this in a level voice, the red and blue Autobot still felt a sharp twinge in his spark and sighed. "Being a father isn't easy, especially to someone who has had a troubled past as Jay has had," he said softly.

"True," Sideswipe said softly. "But we know you can show Jay that you were just concerned, as a good father should be."

"He's got the perfect Autobot to be the father figure he deserves," Sunstreaker said. "And that's you, Optimus."

Carefully, the yellow Twin moved the hand Jay was in over to his leader, who gently accepted him, looking forlorn that he had frightened his son so much. "Go on," the red Twin encouraged softly. "Comfort him. He needs it most from you, sir."

Nodding, Optimus gave them both a grateful look and moved down the hallway to his quarters, holding Jay to his spark before going over to where the boy slept in his quarters and gently pulling out a blanket and wrapping it around his son to keep him warm.

At the warm touch on his forehead, Jay woke up to see Optimus looking at him with a sad expression, something he had never seen on his father's face before. "Jay," he said softly.

The boy stood up carefully. "Dad…I…I really…don't want to…talk about it," he said quietly and went to leave, but a gentle hand caught him and the next thing he knew, he was giggling and trying to protect his stomach as Optimus began tickling him.

"Why don't you stay here, Jay?" The Autobot asked, chuckling as he watched his son try to squirm free. "Hmm. Perhaps a little more 'persuasion' is necessary."

One large finger gently slipped behind Jay's back and Optimus made his finger vibrate right into the boy's shoulder blades, making him squeak in surprise before laughing harder as his tickle spot was mercilessly tickled. "DAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAD!" The boy laughed out in protest.

Chuckling, the red and blue Bot let the boy up and noticed how his son turned and clung to the large hand. Gently, Optimus pulled him closer to his spark, rubbing his back soothingly and making the boy relax and smile before turning to him. "Dad, I'm sorry," he said. "I've…I've never had someone really care if I'm in danger or not before."

"Well, I do care, Jay," the leader of the Autobots said gently. "And I'm sorry I scared you. That wasn't my intent at all."

"I know, Dad. You would never hurt me," Jay said.

"I would ask both Ratchet and Megatron to dismantle me than ever hurt you, son," Optimus said, making the boy smile as he knew he meant it.

"I'll be more careful, Dad. I promise," he said.

"Alright, but no more dangerous stunts like that," the Autobot said in a firm, but even tone.

Jay nodded and snuggled closer to his father's spark, hugging him and feeling the Bot hug him back gently, the gentle beating of his spark soothing the boy and lulling him to sleep.

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 **Please leave a review, but no flames!**

 **GoldGuardian2418**


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